Growing Up Won't Bring Us Down
by crayola goggles
Summary: John O'Callaghan and his band have finally made it big, but it all had to start somewhere. They left someone important behind, someone that made it all happen without even knowing it. A John O'Callaghan feat. the rest of The Maine fic.


"No, I'm pretty sure you're retarded." The scrawny boy teased as I tried to climb back onto the monkey bars. I stuck my tongue out at him, ignoring the hurt feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was a big girl, I could handle it. John was already at the top of the bars, he was always a little more coordinated than I was. That wasn't saying much, the guy was hitting a growth spurt, and his skinny frame hadn't caught up to his height yet.

The park was almost empty, and it was getting dark. This was how our 'playdates' always ended. John making a fool out of me by climbing to the top of the monkey bars faster than me. We weren't strong. We were only twelve. But John was always an annoying little crap like that, he always had to win.

"Emily?" He asked, and I looked back up at him. John was hanging from the top monkey bar, his knees wrapped around it. His long brown hair was hanging down, and his upside down face was squinting up at me, probably wondering why I'd stopped trying. I shrugged to myself, tired of all these games. I jumped down rather obnoxiously and stomped to the nearest bench in the park, folding my arms across my chest.

John followed a few minutes later, sitting down on the ground in front of me. his fingers tapped on the bark on the ground, most likely annoyed with me again. He hated when I didn't get all the way on the monkey bars, for some reason, it made him feel like a jerk… Because he was. I pushed my curly blonde hair out of my face and frowned down at him.

"Why do you always do that?" He asked, laying back down on the ground. I shrugged.

"Because you always win." I said simply. He rolled his eyes and took a deep breath.

"It's not winning if you always just… give up on me." John grinned. "Emily, someday, you will reach the top of the monkey bars. And I'll be able to say…" He thought for a moment. "That I beat you a lot of times before you did." He looked up at me, searching for my expression to change.

"I'm just tired, Johnny." I sighed, laying down on the bench and letting my arms fall off of it. He didn't give me a response until a few minutes later.

"Emily, what do you want to be when you grow up?" He asked me softly, and I could hear the sound of him shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I don't want to grow up." I said simply. I looked down at him, my neck straining as my sandy hair fell in my eyes.

"Growing up is gonna bring us down, ya know?" He said, not wording that the way he had wanted to. I could tell. I rolled my eyes.

"Stop being so negative." I retorted.

"But it will." He said stubbornly.

"No, it won't."

"Will to." I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Will not."

"Will to."

"Johnny." I stated firmly, staring down at his greenish eyes. He was grinning like a fool, his arms folded behind his head. He was so stubborn, it was maddening.

"Emily." He said.

"Growing up won't bring us down, okay?" I said firmly. He lifted a bushy eyebrow and looked at me, nodding.

"That's deep." He said in a mock respectful tone.

"You're so annoying." I mumbled. John reached up to poke my side.

"So are you." He said back. I rolled my eyes this time. We lay there for a few minutes before it got dark, then I stood up, kicking him in the side.

"Time to go, Johnny." He nodded and brushed himself off, shoving his hands in his pockets again before we started walking back. The Arizona air was still hot, even though it was past eight o'clock. I looked up at him as we walked, his tan face and bright eyes. He glanced back down at me, grinning.

"Let's do something crazy." He said, suddenly running away from me. I sprinted after him, catching my breath when he stopped at a tree. I watched him pull out a keychain with a swiss army knife in his pocket, a mischevious glint in his eyes.

"Johnny…" I started, but didn't say anything as he started to carve something into the tree in front of us. I sat down below him, watching him concentrate for a good ten minutes before he was done. He stepped back, wiped his hands on his jeans, and grinned.

"Look." He demanded, pointing at the tree. I got up, my head barely reaching his shoulder as I stood next to him. I leaned in, having a hard time reading it in the dark light. His head moved next to mine and he ran his fingers over the words.

"_Growing up won't bring us down."_ He said quietly. John was always deep like that, trying to say something he would remember forever. Always writing things down, lyrics, poems, whatever.

"That's deep." I repeated, smiling as we started walking again. The road was mostly empty on the way back to my house, just the streetlights. John and I walked in silence for a few minutes before we started bickering about something uselessly. We were infront of my door in no time, and he waved at me before jogging down my steps.

"Night, Emily." He yelled as quiet as he could from the street. He always walked me home, even though he lived right next to the park. "See you tomorrow morning." And he always came to my bus stop instead of his. I waved back and walked into the house, watching him walk away through the living room window. When his body disappeared around the corner I snuck into my bed and went to sleep, dreaming about growing up and other unimportant things.


End file.
